Should toxicity be over or under-regulated? Neither option is desirable. Over-regulation of chemical risks imposes costs on industry that are unwarranted, thereby weakening global economies and their recovery from the current economic crisis towards long-term sustainability. Under-regulation leads to health effects for citizens, non-human species and ecosystems. The most efficient and humane approach is to regulate toxicity as accurately and robustly as possible, for both single substances and mixtures, without relying on costly and invasive mammalian models. This can be achieved by using ultra-high-throughput toxicity testing by innovative laboratory automation to make regulatory systems, premised on ‘tolerable risk’, more rigorous, precise and predictive than it has ever been. Delivering such 21st century science is what the Consortium for Environmental Omics and Toxicology (CEOT) aims to do, by working in collaboration with governments, industry and non-government organizations around the globe.

Samples of tap water from Maywood, California. When residents asked for cleaner water, they were told the water satisfied the Safe Drinking Water Act. 47% of Europeans are equally worried about water pollution (EU25).